More Crochet with Wire and PMC!

I had another great Class with Teri Howes at Cockpit Arts who took the group to the next level in Wire Crochet! Now I can do Circles - not as neat as Teri's but she is an expert!!

It's quite difficult to recognise what is a stitch and what is not! I guess it all takes practice and lots of it. Still - I managed to finish the piece before the day ended!

I also had a PMC (Precious Metal Clay) session at the London Jewellery School. I learnt a lot on the day about adding texture, setting stones and how to make a ring. My favourite pieces I produced on the day are a couple of Pendants.

I reserve the right not to show you the ring!!!!

Finally, there is a really exciting thing happening in the world of MISI (Make It Sell It). Emma Hogg the brains behind Misi has organised the first ever Misi Craft Event, MISI MAKERS, to take place in Bristol this November. It is open exclusively to Misi sellers and will be a great showcase for all Misi Talent!

New Creations

I've been very lucky with competitions lately! First I won NiftyKnits's Competition and received this beautiful knitted Corsage. Take a look at Nifty's new range of Star Trek Meerkat Cards which accompany her range of Meerkats - pure genius!

Next I won Mollimoo's Competition and received these fabulous Fabric Strawberry Buttons! There was also a lovely stash of Vintage buttons - thank you Mollimoo!

Mollimoo's shop has a great range of unique hand made buttons - I particularly like this set of duck buttons.

I finally finished my Stained Glass Panel. It's been a tough journey and I didn't think I could do it, but finally I created something! I adapted my design from one I found in a book.

Somehow I managed to turn that into this :

If I can do it anyone can do it! I've also been playing around with the Wire Crochet and practicing new stitches with wool in preparation for another session with Teri Howes. I am hoping to get to grips with more advanced Wire Crochet techniques and produce much finer work.

and the winners are...

I finally found a use for the pink straws! I know I could have used a random gadget thingy but this was much more fun!

Blue Box Studio

&

Red Jules

Congratulations you are the winners! Get in touch with your address and these fabulous badges are on their way to you!

I had a go at Glass Fusing recently. I made three pieces - all pendants with varying results. Number one was a complete disaster and melted into a mess. Number two was ok but flawed - eventually ending up in tiny pieces on the dining room floor having slipped out of the hands of Twin B who was taking a keen interest.

Thankfully one piece was a success and gives me hope that I might have another go one day!

Disappointed not to win my competition? You can always pop over to Mollimoo who is having a giveaway. You could win a pack of four Strawberry fabric buttons as well as a few little extras from her own stash of vintage and modern buttons! All you have to do is tell her what you love about the month of June - for me it's Strawberries, Sunshine and the Children playing in the garden.

Blog Giveaway!

I am quite partial to a Tunnock's Teacake from time to time - being married to a Scotsman it's compulsory!

A while ago now I bought a fantastic bag from designer Gillian Kyle featuring a massive Tunnock's Teacake!

I managed to pop along to Cockpit Arts for their Open Studios with 4 year old Twin B in tow! The deal was he'd behave and keep his hands to himself near all the Designers' lovely stuff and I in return would take him to The London Transport Museum.

Twin B was good and even had a go at some hands on designing at Cockpit Arts. He made his very own badge courtesy of Jo Sheffield the woman behind the Busbie label.

I was particularly drawn to these lovely badges - can you guess why?!!

GIVEAWAY COMPETITION!

If you would like to win a pack of the badges* above you can enter simply by:

1. posting a link to my competition on a social networking site, blog or forum of your choice

OR

2. Signing up to my blog if you haven't done so already!

Please leave a comment below telling me you have entered.

I have two packs so there will be two winners. Entries will be drawn on Friday 19th June!

*Tunnock's Teacake not included!

There's a fantastic Craft Cafe opened up in my town called Wendy's Workshop and last week I went along to an enamelling class. Here are my first ever attempts!

I quite like this leaf. The glass beads didn't melt as much as I would have liked but they do remind me of three little insect eggs waiting to hatch!

I wanted to make something really colourful and summery. This would have been perfect but for one of the beads that has gone a bit skew. I love the Heart feature!

This one was supposed to let the natural copper of the copper blank show through. I wanted the black and red to look like poppies.

This heart is my favourite. The enamel has pulled away from the edges a little but what the heck - I'll do better next time. I've attached this to a Claret Suede cord and used Vintaj Brass findings. I'm really pleased with the result.

I made another Wire Crochet Necklace with Red Candy Jade beads. I've got another session with Teri Howes lined up so hopefully I can produce more elaborate creations!

Wire Crochet

I had a wonderful day on Teri Howes' Crochet Jewellery Course on Saturday at her studio based at Cockpit Arts. Teri is a Jeweller who makes the most intricate pieces of work using wire crochet in pure silver and gold and her work is available in numerous galleries.

I hadn't done much crochet before even in wool let alone wire! I soon got the hang of it. I'm still amazed at the intricacy of Teri's work! (see pictures on left and below. Pictures Courtesy of Teri Howes)

Teri assisting a classmate!

Work in progress!

There was a vast array of different coloured wires to choose from - it was hard to make a choice!

The fruits of my day are below. I made a lovely necklace with matt pink wire and an eclectic mix of beads. The fastening is a lovely Vintage button. My next make was a flower which I will probably make into a brooch.

The results are very effective and very pleasing!

If anyone is interested in having a go at Wire Crochet Jewellery, Teri runs regular classes throughout the year. Visit teri's website for more details.

Cockpit Arts is having its Open Studios on Friday 12th - Sunday 14th (Holborn) and Friday 19th June - Sunday 21st June (Deptford). You can see the designers behind the scenes in their studios and have the opportunity to buy a few things too! Visit the Cockpit Arts website for more details.

Holiday and Surprises

I've been soaking up the sun in Corsica with Hubby and kids (as much as my fair skin will allow before burning!). It was a lovely week of pure relaxation in spite of the 12 hour delay to our flight!

What a lovely surprise - I received a One Lovely Blog Award from Michele of By Your Side. Thank you Michele and I promise to pass it on when I can get round to it!

I received some lovely Mother-of-Pearl buttons from Jewellery Designs by Laura. I was the lucky winner of her recent blog competition. Thank you Laura and hopefully I can create something special with them!

The Crystal Lady is having another giveaway so go and visit her for a chance to win this lovely bracelet.

I'm just about to make some children's bracelets for the shop I supply - apparently they've been a good seller! Here's to more sales!

I'm looking forward to a couple of courses this week - more of that in my next blog! Bye for now!